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Today marks 10 years since Bob Levinson, a retired FBI agent and Florida resident, went missing while visiting an island off the coast of Iran. U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) filed a resolution today calling on the government of Iran to follow through on its repeated promises to help search for Levinson.
“Today, we renew our call on Iran to make good on those promises and return Bob,” Nelson said in remarks on the Senate floor this afternoon. “We also urge the president and our allies to keep pressing Iran – to make clear that the United States has not forgotten Bob and we won’t forget him until he’s home.”
Following is a transcript of Nelson’s remarks and here’s a link to watch video of his speech: https://youtu.be/hASS4wwYulY.

The text of Nelson and Rubio’s resolution is available here.U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson Remarks on the Senate Floor March 9, 2017Sen. Nelson: Madam President, I come to the floor today with a heavy heart because ten years ago today, Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent, was detained in Iran on the tourist island of Kish island in the Persian Gulf.
Bob, a long-time and much respected FBI agent who had been retired, had served his country for 28 years. He is the longest held civilian in our nation’s history. He’s a husband, a father of seven and now a grandfather of six and he deserves to be reunited with his family.
Since Bob’s detention, American officials have sought Iran’s cooperation in locating and returning Bob to his family. And, of course, Iranian officials have promised over and over their assistance, but after ten long years, those promises have amounted to nothing. Bob still is not home.
The bottom line, Madam President, is that Iran is responsible for returning Bob to his family. If Iranian officials don’t have Bob, then they sure know where to find him.
So today we renew our call on Iran to make good on those promises and return Bob, return him where he ought to be, with his family.
Iran’s continued delay in returning him, in addition to the very serious disagreements the United States has with the government of Iran about its missile program, its sponsorship of terrorism and its human rights abuses, it’s just another obstacle Iran must overcome if it wants to improve relations with the United States.
We also urge the president and our allies to keep pressing Iran to make clear that the United States has not forgotten Bob and won’t forget him until he’s home.
Obviously, we owe this to Bob, a servant of America, and we certainly owe it to his family. And so to Bob’s family, we recognize your tireless efforts over the years for ten long years to bring your dad home, and we offer our sympathies.
Madam President, I yield the floor.

U.S. Congressman Brian Mast (FL-18) today testified before the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development about the pressing need to fund U.S. Army Corps of Engineers infrastructure projects impacting the Treasure Coast:

Excerpt:Chairman, Ranking Member Kaptur, and the rest of the members here, I appreciate you letting me address you. I’m here to advocate on behalf of robust funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, basically to advance and expand their river and harbor maintenance, flood and storm damage reduction, shore protection, and environmental restoration missions.In my Florida Congressional District which spans St. Lucie, Martin, and Palm Beach Counties, the most pressing issue that folks face are the harmful and unnatural, massive discharges – sometimes up to 7 million gallons of freshwater per minute– directed by the Corps of Engineers out of Lake Okeechobee and into the heart of our coastal, saltwater estuary.These discharges, imposed by the federal government, turn the nation’s most species-diverse saltwater estuary – the Indian River Lagoon – into an algae-infested toxic waterway that surrounds hundreds of thousands of residents.And the resulting algal blooms kill beloved wildlife like manatees and dolphins.These toxins released by the algal blooms can hurt people through the water and air – children can’t go swimming or play near the water, and elderly residents must stay really inside of their homes if they live near the toxic air.These blooms also destroy our economy because you can’t sell a house that sits next to toxic water. Nobody wants to go on vacation near. Nobody wants to go boating or fishing or anything like that in a giant stew of algae.As a result, local small businesses – our bars, shops, and restaurants, paddleboard and outdoor recreation stores, gas stations, and fishing charters – they’re all suffering.…As Vice Chair of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee you can count on it being my priority to pass a Water Resources Development Act that includes more CERP project authorizations.And from an appropriations standpoint, I can tell you that more funding is needed to allow the Corps to quicken the pace of the rehabilitation of the Herbert Hoover Dike around Lake Okeechobee.Just my ask to you all: let’s fund this, get it off the books, and get Florida’s water system repaired.More funding is needed to accelerate the construction of already-authorized CERP projects including Indian River Lagoon- South, and the Central Everglades Project, among others.There are also a number of CERP projects that are still awaiting authorization, in part, because of funding and legal limitations on the Corps of Engineers with respect to study investigations.I would respectfully ask the Subcommittee consider increasing the appropriations for Army Corps investigations, and to raise the cap on the number of study starts for environmental restoration projects the Secretary of the Army can greenlight each Fiscal Year – one a year simply isn’t sufficient.Finally, I’d like to welcome the Chairman, Ranking Member, every member of this subcommittee, down to the Treasure Coast to witness firsthand the devastating impacts that we see around Lake Okeechobee discharges and harmful algal blooms.

Sen. Bill Nelson took to the Senate floor today to voice his concerns over reports that the Administration is planning severe budget cuts to three federal agencies including: $1.3 billion from the U.S. Coast Guard, $900 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and $500 million from the Transportation Security Administration.

“That plan just doesn’t make any sense,” Nelson said, “especially when it comes to securing our borders. You’d be putting a bunch of money in a wall, but you’re losing the security of the border over here on the oceans.”

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson Remarks on the Senate Floor March 8, 2017Sen. Nelson: Mr. President, I rise today to express serious concern about reports in the press that the administration is considering deep cuts in funding to crucial aspects of our nation’s national security and our homeland security to pay for the construction of a border wall and also for a crackdown on illegal immigration.
And the first target that alarmed me is America’s maritime guardian, the U.S. Coast Guard. Even as the administration says it plans to secure the borders and increase funding for our military by $54 billion, which, in fact, may be a good thing, it’s reportedly considering cuts on the non-defense side but that includes the Department of Homeland Security, a cut of $1.3 billion, or 12%, to the very military service that secures our vast maritime borders — and that’s the Coast Guard.
That plan just doesn’t make any sense especially when it comes to securing our borders. You’d be putting a bunch of money in a wall, but you’re losing the security of the border over here on the oceans.
The 42,000 member-strong Coast Guard plays a vital role in the protecting our nation from narcoterrorism, from combating human smuggling, from preventing and responding to maritime environmental disasters, as well as protecting living and property at sea, and, oh, by the way, in other foreign parts of the globe, the U.S. Coast Guard is assisting the U.S. Military in our military operations.
Back to border security, if securing our borders and supporting our military is a true priority for the administration, then it ought not be slashing the Coast Guard’s budget. Instead, we should be supporting the Coast Guard’s ongoing and much-needed fleet recapitalization program, including the design and construction of the new of the new offshore patrol cutter and the continued production of the new, fast response cutter. These are desperately needed assets for the Coast Guard.
This senator has personally visited dozens of Coast Guard units all around, not just in my state of Florida, but in Alaska, the Great Lakes. It’s just amazing the job that the Coast Guard does and what I have witnessed firsthand is what they do in the service to our country. The constant theme of my visits is the need — and what I learned from those visits is the need to modernize and increasingly become nimble given the host of threats that could be delivered from our maritime borders.
Now let me give you just one example: the Caribbean. It is a Coast Guard admiral that heads up the task force that has all agencies of government participating as we look to protect the southern borders in the Caribbean as well as the southern Pacific from anything that’s coming to our borders — drugs, migrants, terrorists, whatever. Often this is — since it’s all agencies involved, but if, for example, there are U.S. Navy ships in the area or Air Force assets in the air that might pick up one of these threats coming toward America, they were hand in glove with the Coast Guard because it is the Coast Guard that has the legal authority as a law enforcement agency to stop, apprehend, and board that vessel.
And, yet, we are doing all of this border protection with cutters that have an average age of 45 years old. The average age of a Coast Guard’s 210-foot medium-endurance cutter is 48 years old. The Coast Guard high endurance cutter average age: 45 years. These are just two classes of ships that the Coast Guard uses for interdiction and rescue missions and they do it worldwide.
And, as you may expect, with assets this old, the Coast Guard struggles with major mission debilitating casualties which result in severe losses of operational days at sea and drastically increased maintenance costs.
To correct that, the new offshore patrol cutters and the fast response cutters will give the Coast Guard an effective coastal and offshore interdiction capability in order to meet the objectives. What are they? Combating transnational organized crime networks, securing our national maritime borders, safeguarding water-borne commerce and safeguarding life and property at sea.
Now, look at the administration’s second target to pay for the wall, what’s the second target? Believe it or not, FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Administration. Well, if you’re singling out that agency that comes to the aid of millions of Americans during any kind of natural disaster, single that out for cuts? That doesn’t make common sense and it’s certainly not going to be a popular thing to do in the eyes of those who have to turn to FEMA after a natural disaster to try to get their lives back on track.
Last year — just take one year — two major hurricanes hit Florida in addition to many other devastating natural disasters that struck nationwide and resulted in many deaths and billions in damage. FEMA was critical to people’s survival and recovery in each of these events. Just think of what we hear on the news all the time, storms, tornadoes, earthquakes. You remember the mountain that erupted out in the state of Washington decades ago, not to speak of hurricanes.
For the sake of people’s safety and that of our country, we simply cannot use FEMA as a piggy bank to pay for the administration’s trillion dollar spending programs.
The administration’s third target — this has just been reported. What’s the third target? You’re not going to believe this. It’s TSA, the Transportation Security Administration.
Now, if you target TSA for budget cuts, is that really what you want to do with a threat environment every time we’re going through the airport. TSA is on the front lines of protecting our country from terrorist attacks and that’s its security mission at airports across the country. And, oh, by the way, air marshals that fly on our flights.
Need I remind the administration why TSA was created? It was after the September the 11th attacks in 2001, a funding is vital to ensure the success of TSA’s mission.
In fact, just last year Congress responded to concerns over insider threats and security at airports like the bombings in Brussels and Istanbul with the most extensive security measures in years. And specifically what we did particularly in the Commerce Committee when we formulated the FAA bill, we included bipartisan provisions enhancing the background and vetting requirements for airport employees and expanding the random and physical inspection of airport employees in secure areas.
Remember the case of the Atlanta airport? For several months people had a gun-running scheme coming from Atlanta to New York. They didn’t drive up Interstate 95 to take the guns. They had an airport employee in Atlanta who could get into the airport without being checked carrying a sack of guns, that airport employee would go up into the sterile area where passengers are, go into the men’s room, would exchange knapsacks with a passenger and TSA clean and that passenger took the sack of guns on the airplane flight from Atlanta to new York and the New York city police department couldn’t figure out how they were getting all those guns on the street in New York. That was a gun-running scheme over several months. Thank goodness they were criminals, not terrorists. You want to cut that kind of security?
If you want to cut the strongest security that we have at an airport screening passengers going through, it’s the nose of a dog, the VIPR teams, the dog teams, the most efficient way to screen passengers is a dog team that has been trained with his handler. It’s amazing what those dogs can sense. And so when we did the FAA bill last year, we doubled the number of VIPR teams, the dog teams. And we want to cut this? That was all done in a bipartisan manner.
We doubled the number for the protection of the American public, and we also, in that bill, granted expanded the grant funding to assist law enforcement in responding to mass casualty and active shooter instance which is very important in, for example, again, another tragic example of the recent shooting in Fort Lauderdale at the airport. To counter the issue of long lines, which I know we had to all go through last spring, the legislation included provisions require TSA pre-check and to require TSA to evaluate staffing and checkpoint configurations to expedite passenger security screening.
Does that sound like a lot of administrative mumbo jumbo? Perhaps, but let me tell you it works, and all is designed to protect Americans going to airports and getting on airplanes.
Now, none of this is possible without continued funding, and, in fact, even more funding. Any cuts are certainly going to impair TSA’s ability to keep our country safe.
So the bottom line here is that we must do whatever’s necessary to keep our country safe and our citizens secure. Slashing the budgets of the U.S. Coast Guard or FEMA or TSA is only going to make us less secure. Need I say any more about these proposals to pay for some of these other things like a wall by slashing these kind of budgets?
Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Ad highlights significance of North Florida’s water
and threat posed by Negron-Bradley land buy

Today, Stand Up North Florida released an ad that aims to educate North Floridians about the significance of North Florida’s water and the threat of the South Florida land buy, proposed by Senators Joe Negron and Rob Bradley, to the limited conservation funding resources available to the North Florida region. The ad encourages citizens to contact their legislators about this important issue.

“North Florida has precious water resources – lakes, rivers, springs and beaches – that desperately need protecting. There are limited funds available and it is imperative we receive our fair share. Yet South Florida received more than 90 percent of the Amendment 1 funding for water projects last year. This is a fact most North Floridians likely don’t know,” commented former Congressman Steve Southerland, Stand Up North Florida’s Chairman.

Southerland continued, “The Negron-Bradley proposal will dedicate billions more of Amendment 1 dollars to South Florida, and Senator Negron has made clear he is determined to push this land buy through regardless of the impact on the rest of the state. Unfortunately the currently proposed amendment still does not solve the State’s problems, sends even more money to South Florida, and creates decades worth of debt. This is neither conservative or responsible.

Stand Up North Florida is dedicated to making sure the voters are aware of this multi-billion dollar proposal and the negative impact it will have on North Florida’s ability to receive funding for our needs for decades to come.”

Stand Up North Florida is a grassroots coalition of Floridians from North and Central Florida that believe the vital water resources of our region must be protected. Water plays an important role for our region – directly impacting economics through tourism, agriculture and fishing, while directly impacting our daily life and survival. With more than 70 percent of Florida’s river water sheds and nearly all of the state’s springs, North and Central Florida impact statewide water issues as well and provide nearly all of the recharge to the Floridan Aquifer, the state’s largest drinking water source.

In 2014, Florida voters passed Amendment 1, creating the Land Acquisition Trust Fund and a dedicated pot of funds for conservation projects for 20 years. In order to protect the waters of North and Central Florida, these and other dollars should be equitably shared across the state, rather than having a majority of funds dedicated to one region or area.

During a speech on the House Floor today, U.S. Congressmen Brian Mast (FL-18) called on President Donald Trump to create an Everglades Restoration Infrastructure Taskforce as part of his promised trillion-dollar investment in American infrastructure:

Transcript:
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of including Everglades restoration in the President’s infrastructure plan for America.
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan is the most ambitious ecosystem restoration ever attempted, and represents the ultimate infrastructure package for Florida.
But many critical projects—designed to end harmful Lake Okeechobee discharges and algal blooms into my community—are far behind where they should be and becoming far more costly by the delay in full funding.
The President has touted his record of building world-class projects ahead of schedule and under budget, so I’m calling on him to create an “Everglades Restoration Infrastructure Taskforce,” secure the full funding and accelerate projects to completion.
Mr. Speaker, my constituents have waited long enough to realize the massive benefits of Everglades restoration. Now let’s seize this moment and put this President and this Congress to work to finish the job.
Thank you, I yield back.